


Restless Night

by down, Milieva



Series: From Guru to House-Husband [5]
Category: Magic Knight Rayearth
Genre: (Background Umi/Clef), Gen, Heatfelt Vows from Presea's POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-18 13:53:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29119272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/down/pseuds/down, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milieva/pseuds/Milieva
Summary: Presea doesn't want to admit she's been worried about Clef, but despite Hikaru's reassurances, she's been a little worried about how he's been faring in Tokyo.
Series: From Guru to House-Husband [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1690990
Comments: 4
Kudos: 1





	Restless Night

**Author's Note:**

> Straight up crediting Down as a co-author on this nonsense thanks to the brainstorming and the 500 extra words that were all hers! 
> 
> Hope you all are doing well. 
> 
> This is more or less covers the night before to the night after the wedding from Presea's point of view. I hope you enjoy!

For two months, since Clef's exile, Presea had attempted to ignore her worries. Hikaru kept returning, several times that first day and every day for over a week, with news of how well Clef was getting on in Tokyo. It helped, but Presea couldn't completely shake thoughts of the stories that told of exiles wasting away as their connection to Cephiro dissolved. It had been the final comeuppance for villains in so many of the children's tales she'd been told in her youth; despite all Hikaru's assurances, and knowing that Umi was with him and would spot it if he became ill, the anxiety lingered.

It wasn't until she saw Clef in person that she could finally put most of that concern aside. He didn't just look healthy, he looked happy. She'd never seen him so relaxed, even though this marriage ceremony tomorrow must be at least a little stressful - especially with Ferio panicking about it as they all tried to catch up.

Something inside her still ached a little at the thought that she wasn't the one to put that incandescent smile on his face, but she was glad to know he had someone who did. And even though she couldn't understand the words Clef spoke the next day without Hikaru's translation, there was no mistaking the adoration in his voice when he made his vows to Umi.

*

Through the whole day, ceremony and speeches, Presea managed to hold herself together until Ferio stood up to address the room. At least she wasn't the only one crying - Clef's face was damp enough he was wiping it off with a handkerchief when Ferio spoke about Emeraude and how glad she would be to see him so happy.

When Ferio sat back next to her, Presea punched him in the arm. "Why'd you have to get all soppy like that?" she said through her tears.

"I may be soppy, but you're soggy," he laughed, pulling the handkerchief out of his pocket and handing it to her. He looked back over at Umi and Clef with a wistful smile. "I'm glad he's waiting this out with her."

Presea accepted the handkerchief before she flicked him in the forehead. "Took you long enough."

"Hey!" Ferio rubbed his head. "I never considered how unhappy he'd be without her." His voice went quiet. "And seeing him smile like that really makes me wish Emeraude could have been here."

"Don't go making us cry again," Hikaru said, patting Presea's hand and stealing the handkerchief to wipe her own face off. "We're about to go up and have our photo taken."

*

After the wedding and the reception, Presea gratefully returned to the hotel room with Hikaru. Both of them immediately shed their fancy clothing and pulled on comfortable clothes - though Presea's comfortable things here were just as new, having been bought by Hikaru so she could get to Tokyo without her clothes vanishing on her. Hikaru had managed to buy everything Presea needed - Ferio, on the other hand, had already had to go shopping for clothes once.

Hikaru made them a hot drink before sitting down with Presea at the table to review their shopping plan.

She might not fully understand the economic system in Tokyo, but Presea knew Umi's parents were being incredibly generous in offering to pay for any moving gifts they wanted to give to Umi and Clef, since no matter what Hikaru and the other girls tried there didn't seem to be any way to reliably bring things from Cephiro. Practical things from this world would probably be more sensible anyway, given the lack of magic.

Catalogues had been sent to Cephiro with Hikaru last month, so they could pore over them and make a decision, and the list Hikaru pulled out had cuttings from the catalogues pasted onto it with notes in both Cephiran and Japanese.

"We can get started this afternoon. There's still a couple of hours until the shops shut," Hikaru said. "It shouldn't take us too long to find a nice stationery set for Caldina and LaFarga's gift."

"What happened to the bottle of wine?" Presea asked.

"LaFarga didn't think it was appropriate to gift them a bottle of wine while Umi's still underage," Hikaru said, only to look up from her phone with a glowing grin. "But I may have already had Kakeru get a bottle of sake, that one all of you said tastes like uinka wine. Just remind me to get Caldina to write a note to go with it."

Presea laughed. "So she gets to give two presents then?"

"The stationery set's basically from all of us. We want them to keep in touch."

*

Presea wasn't sure she could ever get used to the sheer number of people on the streets in Tokyo. It felt like a nightmare, though that could be because the only time people in Cephiro had been packed anything close to this tightly together, it was because they were all sheltering in one building while the world fell apart.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Presea kept close to Hikaru and threw herself into their shopping. They did manage to find a nice stationery set, though it took a bit longer than anticipated. Presea hadn't expected to have such strong opinions on paper weights or pen nibs, especially when it wasn't even her gift.

They returned to the hotel with that at least crossed off the list before they had dinner.

*

That night, Hikaru's phone ringing startled Presea so badly she nearly fell out of bed.

A cold chill ran through Presea at Hikaru's worried "What's wrong?"

Had Ferio been right and something happened to Cephiro? Presea sat up and looked sharply at Hikaru in the other bed, but Hikaru sounded more confused than worried.

"Same as always, so far as I can tell. What's happened?" Hikaru said. The concern creeping into her voice put Presea on edge, but only a moment later, her tone shifted. "Hi, Clef. Yeah, everything's fine as far as I can tell. I can go check in a little while if you want me to." She glanced across at Presea and shook her head with a quick smile - it couldn't be an emergency, then.

Hikaru leaned back against the headboard as she chatted with Clef in quick succession about probably half a dozen things, most of them having to do with life in Tokyo as far as Presea could tell. There was something about a story he was following, but beyond Hikaru laughing as she asked him about the plot, Presea had no idea what any of it meant. But she did recognise Hikaru's attempt to ease Clef's mind about something.

Getting out from the covers, Presea switched on one light and padded quietly across the floor to the kettle - it took a moment, but she managed to get a drink for Hikaru and herself - the same one Hikaru had made before they slept, so it shouldn't be energising. 

When the call ended, Hikaru set the phone aside and turned to Presea. "I think the stress of all this is finally getting to Clef." She wrapped her hands about the mug Presea handed her and took a breath of the steam. "He's having nightmares."

"About Cephiro?"

Hikaru nodded. "Would you be okay if I pop back to Cephiro for a few hours?"

"Go, I'll be fine," Presea said, part of her wanting its own reassurance that her home still stood and she wouldn't also be stuck in this busy place. "You could even ask Lantis's opinion on the tea sets we found while you're there. He's on nights this month, right?"

"Oh! Good idea!" Hikaru paused long enough to drink down half the mug before getting herself out of bed. Dressing quickly, she nearly tripped as she pulled on a pair of tights. But laughed off Presea's worry. "I'm awake enough to find my way safely to Cephiro and back," she promised. Then she was gone.

*

Presea tried to get back to sleep, but she couldn't manage it. She lay in bed staring up at the ceiling wondering if everything really was alright back in Cephiro.

It was pointless fretting. There wasn't anything she could do about it, even if something had.

Getting up, she flung open the curtains and looked out at the city.

All the hustle and bustle of this place was overwhelming, and she had no idea how, with all his hatred of noise and rowdiness, Clef seemed to be thriving here.

Maybe it was just exposure. He hadn't had much choice, either.

At the very least, Clef's time spent in Tokyo had given him language skills Presea didn't have, which would have gone some way to keeping her entertained while she waited for Hikaru to return. In the end, she sat doodling with the pen and paper the hotel provided on the desk - plans for the practice sword she'd promised to Hikaru but hadn't had time to make. Escudo swords weren't best when you were trying to practice your form, as they just tended to slice through any and everything that wasn't also made of Escudo. The standard practice swords were fine, but she wanted to make Hikaru something with the same balance as her real one.

*

The sun was just coming up when Hikaru tumbled back into the room with a paper bag emblazoned with a familiar logo in her hand, apparently unsurprised that Presea was awake

"Okay, so Lantis says he likes the second one we saw at Piffle best," she said.

"And Cephiro?"

"Fine. No worse than the past few weeks, but what did anyone expect to happen when the Council sent Clef away? It certainly wasn't going to be sunshine and rainbows when she's been stripped of the person who acted as her linchpin for so long. She's grumpy, but stable." Hikaru dropped onto the sofa and held the bag up with a grin. "They were just opening as I came back, so I got your favourite!"

If Hikaru wasn't worried, Presea would try not to be.

In the meantime, doughnuts would be a good distraction.

**Author's Note:**

> The Umi/Clef side of the story will continue with Close Quarters. The first chapter is probably about half done. There was a little struggle with outlining it, as I kept wanting to skip forward several stories to where they actually admit their feelings, because I really like that part. 
> 
> Is there anything you want to see in Umi and Clef's new life living together in a little apartment?


End file.
